“Could you take my picture with this big handsome guy?” Charlotte is, in one word, personality. She can walk up to a total stranger – which is what she was doing when she asked this question – and in mere seconds her request is granted and a friend is made. Thinking the big handsome guy […]
To Ponder
In the Book Nook with … William J. Burkhardt
Author William J. Burkhardt from New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia, does mechanical work for a living, but also just started a publishing LLC. He has been “writing since the single digits”. His first publication happened in 2014. William J. Burkhardt was a devoted musician until around his late 20s. He has painted a few […]
With Your Help, Monica Can Move Mountains
A Short Story… Monika had a full head of hair. She brushed it every morning and wore it like a crown. Everyone knew her and her special love of the community and everyone in it. If you crossed her path, she would let you know that you needed to step back and think about your […]
The Night Murray Morgan Broke the Bridge
Submitted by HistoryLink.org/Murray Morgan. “Murray Morgan (1916-2000) was one of the Pacific Northwest’s most beloved historians. A native Tacoman, he wrote the indispensable Skid Road: An Informal Portrait of Seattle and several other books about the region. In the following reminiscence written in the 1960s and shared with HistoryLink by his daughter, Lane Morgan, Murray writes about […]
Toilet Paper or Else? A Question for the entire world
Reaching out for alternatives . . . Throughout history people have used everything from large green leaves to their bare hands, from corn cobs, or to snow in cleaning up the poop from their butts. Sticks and leaves have always been ready and available. If those were missing, people could always turn to wiping with […]
Letter: The last bus
Submitted by Greg Alderete. It was a dark, wet night in Belgium—one of those nights that seeps into your bones and makes you wish you were anywhere but trudging along cobblestone streets, soaked to the skin. I was a teenager then, living off-post, which was my dad’s idea of “broadening our horizons.” While most of […]
The Magic of Good Teachers
It was one of those days. The weather was ice cold, but it had a beautiful blue sky. I had some business to do with a client and had hurried myself along a bit when I realized I was actually hungry and needed at least a good cup of coffee. I was one block away […]
A Time of Discoveries
I am just thrilled . . . all around the world, we are finding surprising, historical, and mind-plowing connections to our pasts and possibly futures. Astronomers discover first evidence of hot water on the surface of Mars . . . ‘King Arthur’s Hall’ is five times older than thought, researchers discover . . . A […]
Letter: The power of the potluck
Submitted by Gregory Alderete. Years ago, while working for the Department of Defense, I gained an unexpected insight into human behavior at a simple potluck lunch. As a former Army officer, I was conditioned to eat last, so I would wait patiently on the side until everyone had gone through the line. One day, while […]